SOURCE: Stokes, Charity Scott. “Thomas Hoccleve's Mother of God and Balade to the Virgin and Christ: Latin and Anglo-Normal Sources.” Medium Aevum 64, no. 1 (1995): 74-84.

In the essay below, Stokes examines Hoccleve's sources in order to better appreciate his art and rehabilitate his reputation as a poet. Stokes looks at the influence of the Latin Prayer O intemerata et in aeternum benedicta, specialis et incomparabilis virgo on Hoccleve's “Mother of God.” She also discusses various Anglo-Norman sources for his “Balade to the Virgin and Christ,” including several on women and courtly love.

The tide of critical appreciation has been turning in favour of Thomas Hoccleve's poetry in recent decades. One of the first scholars to write more positively of Hoccleve's work than had been customary was Jerome Mitchell, whose major re-evaluation was published in 1968.¹ Two selections of Hoccleve's verse are now available in paperback editions.² Acknowledgement of his achievements...